Not everything was roses for Riddle following his comments about Roman Reigns.
Following WWE SummerSlam, Riddle called out Reigns after Reigns called himself "legitimate needle moving" due to the success of SummerSlam. Riddle said to Graham Matthews of Bleacher Report, "When he's saying 'Acknowledge me' or 'I move the needle,' no, you don't. You're related to The Rock. Shut up. Like, I'm not impressed, I can beat you up in a real fight."
Dave Meltzer reported in the Wrestling Observer Newsletter, "there was a lot of heat in certain circles on Riddle for comments on Bleacher Report on Reigns.”
Speaking on a media call (via IBTimes), Riddle confirmed that he got a little bit of heat for his comments.
“I’m not trying to rub anybody the wrong way or say anything [wrong], but I made some comments [and] I’ll say this: I think they were all factual, just so you know. Kind of like I said, [I am] kind of telling the truth here. But I think, maybe, even if they were factual, they weren’t the most professional things to say, especially with me being on the Raw brand and him being on SmackDown," said Riddle. "I’m not even in that realm of competing with the Tribal Chief. He’s on another level at this moment. I think maybe I got a little too big for my britches, you know what I mean? Maybe I got a little backstage heat. Maybe a tiny bit."
Riddle went on to say, "Unfortunately, I said some things that some people may not have liked and I’m not going to mention names, but they didn’t like it. I won’t say it again. I get it,” he shared with a sly smile. Right now, all hail the Tribal Chief. Good for Roman [Reigns]. Acknowledge him. Everybody, acknowledge him, okay? That’s all I’m saying.”
Riddle is one-half of the WWE Raw Tag Team Champions alongside Randy Orton on the red brand. Over on the blue brand, Reigns carries the WWE Universal Championship.
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